Ivory was escorted down a winding garden path, her sandals nt making a sound against the flat pavers.
The scent of Gardenia, Orange Blossom and Jasmine filled the air while towering palms and Neem trees
provided shade from the ever present sun. Ivory was escorted to a small Pagoda where a woman waited
for her.
Ivory took the measure of Ms. Natsiree Janparon, tall, thin, but too much so, well toned, certainly well
turned out, the dress was light and flowing, settling nicely on her body. Her make-up was sparse but
perfect, care taken in the application. She was elegant, a fact Ivory could glean from her raising from her
chair to greet her guest and the more than elegant and provocative way she settled back into it.
The process was however, a two way street as Ms Janparon made note of her quest. She had of course
heard of her before, but seeing was another matter and she quickly surmised all that she’d heard as true
and more. She watched as Ivory fluidly took the chair offered her, the spy’s body sinuous in motion as
lowered.
‘Thank you for agreeing to see me Ms Janparon,’ Ivory said, deciding to start diplomatically.
‘Our earlier conversation made this meeting inevitable I think, Miss Stevens. I think you know that,’ Natsiree smiled.
‘No sense being formal, you can call me Ivory. This is quite a place you have here. Extensive grounds, buildings and a magnificent garden. Who knew all this could be had simply by operating an Female Executive Finishing School. Your fee’s must be substantial and the training rather extensive. I imagine emphasis is put on the finishing aspect, by that of course I meaning, style, grace among other traditional Thai aspects,’ Ivory smiled as she looked about.
‘I’ve done well over the years, several unexpected win falls now and again have helped. But of course, once you’ve built a reputation for results you can always count on repeat business. That’s really the bread and butter, short term business transactions tend to generate the highest fees, but naturally to achieve that you need to remain as flexible as possible,’ Natsiree smiled as she crossed her legs.
Ivory did not divert her eyes, she knew that was the intention and she had no interest in giving this woman what she wanted that easily.
‘I agree, but one must remain open to longer term endeavours or you could risk constricting cash flow if the market changes,’ Ivory countered.
‘You sound like a woman with experience in that area, but I can safely say my business model is designed to encompass all clients, large and small,’ Natsiree soothed.
‘And what would you say to a client of my size?’ Ivory said an eyebrow going up in a more than suggestive way.
‘I think you would be a long term project. I wouldn’t want to rush things. I would take a feeling out process, get to know you, strengths and weaknesses of the business body as a whole then move on to formulating a plan and putting it into action making sure of course I’d built in capacity to make minute adjustments as time went on,’ Natsiree answered Ivory seeing her pupils dilate as she spoke.
‘So a full coverage engagement then?’ the FORCE spy countered leaning forward.
‘If you like we can begin right now, I have nothing planned for this afternoon or well into the evening should you wish.’
‘One on one session then, no team approach. I would have thought the larger the client’s needs the more team members would be used,’ the spy questioned.
‘My experience and personal touch are more than up to the task,’ Natsiree smiled as she looked at Ivory’s crossed legs, one of her legs swinging lightly back and forth. But I think we should do business before pleasure,’ Natsiree said as she rose from her chair and Ivory did the same, the host coming close to the spy then turning her back.
‘I’m told you're quite the python yourself Miss Stevens, but I don’t think you have all the facts in the matter you called me on. If you want to follow me I can explain better with a visual. I also want to thank you for eliminating that man sent to kill you. When you have a moment perhaps you can tell me how, but for now this will have to do,’ Natsiree said as she brushed Ivory’s lips then began to walk. The FORCE spy was surprised but also intrigued and followed her.
She led her along a flowered and treed path that widened out to allow statues of The Buddha on either side as they walked along. Natsiree noticed that Ivory bowed as she walked past the first one. The two walked in silence as they approached a large ornate double door carved from teak and stained dark, the handle to open then a large golden ring on each door. Natsiree slipped of her shoes as did Ivory, the women pulled the doors open together and entered into a dark cool environment, skylights creating pillars of light as they walked forward toward the statue.
‘This is Wisutkasat or Borommathewi. She was a princess who saw her mother killed in combat
defending her father, she vowed that day to learn how to fight should she ever need it. She later became
a Queen herself training in all the traditional combat arts. Her talent and skills made her a master, it was
however in unarmed combat where she truly excelled. To make a long story short, she took her skills
and developed them into what we use today. She taught her ladies in waiting her skills, each of them
once their service was up, returned home and developed, refined and passed it on through schools, much
like this one. It was a way to ensure an income, be of quiet service to the ruler and ensure you, as a
woman, would always be treated fairly when it came to matters of the estate and inheritance,’ Nasiree
explained.
‘You seemed to have expanded on the area of how to generate income as time went on,’ Ivory mused.
‘Change with the times or die with them. I prefer to change.
‘Well said, but I’m not making the connection with the gems.’
‘Wisutkasat left no written account, either of her life or what she developed, everything was oral and demonstrated for students, no texts or manuals. The advantage was each master could create, refine and adapt, keeping the art alive and vibrant, hence specialised knots for women such as yourself.’ Natsiree explained.
‘The disadvantage is things get lost over time,’ Ivory rejoined.
‘Exactly. There has always been rumours of a written set, by her and other ancient masters; modern masters do keep written records, but about 400 years of teachings are lost or partially so. This is where the gems come in. Do you know the tradition?’ she asked.
Ivory shook her head and Natsiree picked up the thread again.
‘As I mentioned, financial independence was very important for women, back then as it is today, but of course much more so then. These ancient noblewomen needed wealth and gemstones created a concentrated, easy to store and carry bank if you will. Being noblewomen, they wanted good quality, for the day, gems. This created something of a competition among them, sometimes it turned deadly. Wisutkasat, now much older and alarmed by this, gathered the masters together for a conference. She supposedly revealed the book of all her teachings and a series of 10 statues, a gift to the masters, one for each school. She told them to write down everything they had learned and come back in a year with their book and their most precious gem which they did. Wisutkasat took from each their stone and their books. Her scribes copied them while her keymasters fitted the backs of each stone with a unique key. Each statue was fitted with two locks, one from the gem each master brought, which was given back to them and the other key was a gem she had. The statue could only be opened with both keys, if you tried to break it open acid would destroy the text. A Cryptex if you will. Inside each statue was the combined learning from all the masters. New school’s over the years added texts to each statue, but none could access them to gain an advantage. In this way Wisutkasat could keep the focus of her teachings looking onward, she kept the master key entrusting it to her daughter, who again, it is rumoured had skills far above any of the other master and she in turn has passed it down through the centuries until it rested with my mother.’
‘The sapphire I take is the master and the garnet was the school’s stone?’ Ivory asked.
‘Yes, but I have neither, my mother was killed for them. When that happened I had the statue moved to this location to keep it safe.’
‘So you want them back from the school who took them and sold them,’ Ivory stated.
‘No, Miss Stevens. A Silkworm killed my mother and took the stones who I understand had them stolen from her along with the other Silkworms who had gems they purloined from other schools stolen from them. I want mine back and the others if I can get them. I don’t hold any malice toward the Silkworms, it's the nature of the business, the killing part I mean, but stealing from your opponent is very much out of bounds,’ Natsiree stated.
‘Your sense of honour among spies is, well interesting, is the best I can put it, but you taking the other stones from the other schools kind of puts pay to your high standards wouldn’t you say?’
‘I would return them to the schools, returned they are of much more value to me,’ Natsiree smiled.
‘You get to re-establish who the boss is,’ Ivory smiled and was met by one back.
‘We seem to understand each other and they are mine and others first, the Silkworms have no claim on them.’
‘I need to make a call. Would you excuse me for a minute or so,’ Ivory said.
The FORCE spy walked outside. ‘Things just got more complicated.’
^^^
‘Shit!’ Claire exclaimed.
‘What is it?’ Cindy asked as she put down her drink.
‘You were right,’ Claire smiled, her head shaking back and forth with a look that said she should have known better all along.
^^^
‘That’s why I got you out of bed,’ Claire said as she finished explaining the situation in Alice’s private study. ‘Cindy and I have talked about and we have a plan, well, a course of action, but I want you involved. You two are my two closest friends and my best thinkers. The rest of our group does not need to be involved until we have this sorted at our end. They will go along with what we come up with here even if we don’t tell them our decision they’ll come to the same one, so everything will be fine.
‘That’s a big leap, but not an implausible one,’ Alice offered.
‘We all know the unwritten rule, we all followed it, even when we were on opposite sides,’ Claire said, looking at Cindy with a smile.
‘So this encounter with the Silkworm was simply a mission with two agents crossing paths, fair enough,’ Alice said. ‘But the outcome is the dilemma. Did the Silkworm take personal possessions from this woman’s mother, which as you said breaks the rule, no stealing personal effects from the victim, respect for the defeated opponent in all matters and manner or did the Silkworm know what the stone was for and were they in fact after the manuscripts?’
‘They do seem awfully keen to get those gems back,’ Cindy added.
‘I thought so as well, but foolishly or not said nothing,’ Alice remarked, shooting a look at Claire who looked resigned to her error. ‘But those gems will not get them all they want.’
Cindy and Claire looked at each other for what seemed a long time drawing a blank. Alice grinned, got up and went to the fireplace. She took two marble reliefs of Ram’s heads in each hand and turned one clockwise while turning the other counter clockwise. A granite tile about 3 feet by 3 feet opened on the floor at the base of the fireplace, a safe appearing. Alice let her thumb be scanned then looked into the centre of one of the Ram’s heads with her left eye for the optical scanner.
‘Did you know about this?’ Cindy turned to Claire who shook her head.
‘We all have secrets, even from each other and sometimes it's necessary, even prudent,’ the Countess remarked as she pulled out the jewelled Silkworm casting with the six jewels they had recovered to save Claire’s life. This is what they really need, well the gems,’ Alice smiled.
‘That is supposed to be in Macau with the manuscripts,’ Claire stated flatly.
‘Yes it is, I took it from the vault and brought it home. Those ladies had all the access they needed to the decoded documents yet that didn’t seem to be enough for them,’ Alice explained.
‘Did they ask you to see it?’ Claire inquired.
‘I’ve been around long enough to understand diplomatic nuanced language, you ask without ever asking and these ladies were doing it. Well to be fair, only 4 of them were, coincidentally, the same four who’s jewels were taken from them.’
‘That could just be a coincidence,’ Cindy offered.
‘I was willing to consider that, but then I looked into these ladies. Seems their connection to the gems is a little more personal and as Claire has just found out, intertwined with others. Those strands of pearls they wear can reveal a great deal if one is willing to look or use a HD camera to scan them then do a little digging in the archives. I’m so glad we digitized everything, made a macro search so much faster. Anyway to make a long story short each one of those ladies has an individual somewhere on her necklace that obtained the gem and passed it down. Who knows what else they passed down in terms of information regarding what Ivory just found out. To me it seems a few of these Silkworms may have grander plans than being part of us. That is why I brought this thing here, to keep them from getting their hands on it,’ Alice explained.
‘I really screwed this up!’ Claire said, falling back in her chair.
‘I don’t think that may be the case,’ Cindy assured her. ‘Alice never mentioned Seetha, Esha or any other than these four asking for the statue. I think what we have here is an internal secret, but a secret that appears to be known only by those four women. Think what you could do with that knowledge, you could be a very powerful Hive Queen or one of only four Hive Queens.’
‘Looks like we’ve gotten ourselves in the middle of an internecine war, the thing is how do we get out of this?’ Claire mused.
‘I vote, we stay and play our cards. I think we still have more than enough trumps to win a grand slam. We have the resources, the agents, the skill sets to handle both sides. Plus we have insider knowledge the Silkworms don’t know we have. We also have Esha and Seetha and the others. If we play this skillfully we can keep those aforementioned Silkworms on our side, get the knowledge from the Thai manuscripts, expose the Silkworm traitors gaining us further Silkworm loyalty from those that remain while we can make an alliance with the Thai Schools by helping them and returning the stones if that is what they wish. Who knows, maybe since we have the other gems, they may just ask us to keep them for safety sake,’ Cindy smiled.
‘I can’t disagree with any of that,’ Alice chimed. Except you have to tell Susan, Fan Li, David, Tina and Mai. No more lone wolf, we agreed.’
‘You missed Allison,’ Claire inquired.
‘Too close to Esha, until we’re certain. She’s the one card that could upset the slam,’ Alice offered.
Claire said nothing, but she felt it keenly
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